My friend are about to begin running a new campaign. He is the main GM and is developing the ongoing main plot, and I will be handling short interludes, one -offs, and the like. That way we both get a chance to play as well as create fun encounters.

The campaign world is an Amalgam of the DC and Marvel universes. There are 6 of us in total, all playing original heroes; 3 from DC and 3 from Marvel. The main plot is going to be centered around what happened to merge the realities, as only we remember the world as we knew it.

Herein lies my dilemma. We have selected a nemesis for each of the players in the game from the universe they formally resided in. I have to select one for my buddy, but I'm at a loss.

He is playing a paragon type; super strength and toughness, flight, and eye beams. He is similar to Hyperion from the Marvel universe if you are familiar with the character. If you aren't, think Superman. He gained his powers from an accident with Neutrino radiation.

Any suggestions on a DC Universe based villain to make as his nemesis? I don't to just throw another Paragon type at him. I'm thinking maybe a character like Cheetah; she goes toe to toe with Wonder Woman but s not a "Paragon" type herself. We have already established that in this new universe some heroes can be villains and some villains can be heroes. I appreciate any feedback and suggestions. Thanks!

"Isn't Damage technically a paragon which is exactly what I said I didn't want?"

Yes... And no.

This is one of those characters that can really be used to great effect against a Paragon, especially the explosive blast power. See, Damage is a "low level" superhuman, as it were. He's not going to trade blows with Superman. His damaging blasts aren't going to hurt a paragon either. They will however toast civilians.

How does damage become a villain?

We use the largest group of racist hypocrites in comics for that... Namely:

Got bombarded by Gamma Radiation? Go throw on some white face to cover that green skin because we don't want ya.

Have you been with the team for decades? Been a teacher at the school? Helped mutants your whole life? That is fine and all but if you lost your X-Gene you can GTFO.

So yeah... The X-Men are your perfect catalyst.

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In this brave new world Damage is thought to be a mutant - at first - after the destruction of Atlanta. The X-Men arrive and promise to help him. They see a mutant who lost control of his powers and caused the damage accidentally while trying to stop a super villain. They are sympathetic. They show up and tenderly offer Damage a home.

For a time, this works fine...

Until they find out that Damage isn't a mutant. Then Scott Summers gives Grant Emmerson the boot. With the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters no longer taking responsibility for Damage's actions, part of the stipulation for Damage's release from prison, Damage is forced to go on the run.

Thus damage is taken in by a whole new patron. The owner of the Hellfire Club, after usurping control from Sebastian Shaw, one Alexander "Lex" Luthor.

Luthor planned to study Damage and try to figure out how his powers worked in the hopes that he could replicate them. In the course of this he turned Damage into a premier superhero. Granting him the ability to control his powers to a much greater degree. (Similar to his plot in 52.)

He turned Damage into a celebrity, a star, a paragon of paragons.

Then... When he found out that he couldn't copy his powers... Luthor turned his extra control off (Similar to what he did in 52) and Damage laid waste to a huge portion of a city that he was protecting when his powers went completely out of control.

Since then Damage has gone underground.

Stabbed in the back by the X-Men and by Luthor he has become bitter and cracked. Seeing this new Paragon, who is gaining fame and renown, has caused him to decide to enlighten the upstart. Grant plans on showing the world that this new Paragon isn't a hero, like him, he's just a ticking time bomb ready to go off at any moment...

Damage is tough (so he can brawl with a Paragon for a short time) but his primary bonus are his explosions. Damage may not be able to hurt the Paragon (much) but he'll kill countless civilians if the Paragon tries to take him head on. This can create an interesting dynamic for an encounter.

One can lift a rock with pure power, but a pure heart can move mountains.

Insidious mind control and illusion. A classic. Even if you opt to not use the mind control on the PC's (Because what fun is that?) how does the Paragon respond to the fact that a dozen people saw him snap someone's neck in cold blood?

Maxwell Lord, a psychic that could give Professor X a run for his money (interestingly Lord can't read minds, just control them) as he can, and has, affected the minds of everyone on Earth (without needing a device to boost his powers, though he did need a device to keep him alive after the strain of it) with the ruthless business savvy of Lex Luthor.

Maybe the Paragon rejected an offer to work for Lord? Perhaps the Paragon inadvertently got in Max's way? Either way Maxwell lord has set out to destroy the Paragon.

This can be played to great effect as the heroes hear about an armored car being robbed. They show up, stop the robbers, and put the stolen goods back in the car. Then they fly home clapping themselves on the back the whole time.

Once there, though, they see on the news that there is video of the PC's robbing an armored car, knocking out the guards, and then helping the criminals load the money into the back of a black van.

One can lift a rock with pure power, but a pure heart can move mountains.

I'd go with Earth-3 Rex The Wonder Dog. Just because a super intelligent immortal dog as an archnemisis amuses me.

Actually, I like Maxwell Lord for other reasons. Sure, he has psychic powers, but what makes him such a great villain for a paragon is his soft power. I believe soft power is the best way to confound a paragon. Sure, the hero has all this power, but the other guy has the support of the people, government, and business. He can, and will, wreck your life without leaving his office, and people will love him for doing so. He's a guy you can't (well, shouldn't) punch to solve your problems.

Maxwell Lord I am familiar with. I had a story I was going to do with Purple Man but he may be a better fit. I think he may be a reoccurring villain in the campaign for sure. Appreciate the suggestion.

I really like Damage as a nemesis. However, he is totally under my radar and I had never heard of him before the link to that wiki. To put him M&M 3E rules, I take it he would have the energy absorption power which grants boost (physical) and blast?

Maxwell Lord I am familiar with. I had a story I was going to do with Purple Man but he may be a better fit. I think he may be a reoccurring villain in the campaign for sure. Appreciate the suggestion.

I really like Damage as a nemesis. However, he is totally under my radar and I had never heard of him before the link to that wiki. To put him M&M 3E rules, I take it he would have the energy absorption power which grants boost (physical) and blast?

Not quite. Since he's the one who "boosts" himself internally it would be:

Power Charge Alt. Focused BlastEffect: DamageExtra: Area (Cone) (add more ranks of area to this power once you find out how many points you have to spend after building the power charge container)

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Power Charge Alt. Explosive BlastEffect: DamageExtra: Area (Burst) (add more ranks as needed.)

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Power Charge Alt. LeapingEffect: Leaping

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Because that main power is soooooo expensive this means the cone attack and the burst will have a VERY HIGH amount of area, which is a trait of the character. His blasts are, well, damaging. Extreme collateral damage.

Awesome! Thanks for the help! This definitely gives me a place to start

I do have two other ideas I want to throw out there to see if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions. Again, this is to be a nemesis for the Paragon type

1) Giganta / Apache Chief - The Growth power gives strength and toughness to handle the heavy blows from a paragon, and the great size can threaten large areas of the public

2) Cyborg - What if Vic Stone was traumatized by the events that led to his becoming cyborg and now he swears revenge on the world? In this scenario the same accident that gave my friend his powers would be the one that caused Vic to be blown apart.

Damage is in Heroes & Villains Volume One if you, or one of your friends, has access to it. He is a pretty well done PL9 character who is capable of tangling with higher PL foes for a short time, during which the havoc his powers can wreak on their surroundings is enough to run any Paragon ragged trying to save all of the civilians while figuring out how to guide the walking bomb somewhere that the Paragon can take care of him.

Don't pick a foe that will paint the paragon as just another dumb brick who is easily confounded by lengthy words or someone able to mechanically target the paragon's weak resistances, but rather select a foe whose morals run counter to the Paragon's own. Maxwell Lord does this very well, but you can also use a fellow hero.

A hero whose actions/methods disgust the paragon can be just as difficult to deal with for the paragon; take how Superman felt about Magog murdering the Joker and how the jury acquitted him. Something along these lines can allow for the Paragon (who can either be in the place of Superman or Magog, it all depends on the character's principles) to be forced into situations where he must interact with the other hero (sometimes on film, especially nowadays with cellphones) which can have both positive and negative consequences for each of the heroes.

There is also working with your friend to modify his Paragon's backstory to better accommodate a new source for his powers. Consider the villainess Blaze who is able to grant wishes and the assumption that the Paragon was supposed to have been part of the research team working with the neutrino radiation.

-The project leader dabbles in the occult and manages to contact Blaze, who agrees to grant him power in return for his soul. [If the hero is the project leader, then one of his jealous assistants does this]

-Something occurs that places the powers granted by Blaze into the body of the hero, but the price is still paid by the project leader- who dies a fiery death.

-The power now residing within the hero was never intended to remain in our realm for very long and without it Blaze is weakened somewhat- causing her rivals in Hell, as they become aware of this fact, to begin maneuvering to take her throne.

-Now Blaze has to mask her weakened state while working to recover the power she has lost. This allows her to start off by tempting the hero into a deal, where she can eventually recover the power she lost, and eventually move on to sending minions after him (including corrupted heroes and [temporarily] empowered villains), and culminating with a head-on battle- perhaps in Hell even.